The use of tumor-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) has been actively investigated in therapy directed at several different types of human cancers (Levy and Miller, Fed. Proc. 42: 2650-2656 (1983)), and to date, a number of clinical trials have been reported. Both phase I and II levels of clinical trials have convincingly demonstrated the safety of these agents, even at high dose levels; but they also indicate that monoclonal antibodies ("mAbs") have not been as effective in vivo as predicted.
The effectiveness of antibodies to tumor-associated antigens in the therapy of cancer depends on the ability of antibodies to destroy their target cells by either direct cytotoxicity or complement-mediated cellular lysis. Complement-mediated lysis is triggered when the C1q component of the classical complement pathway binds to the Fc portion of antibodies bound to the surface of tumor cells, leading to the formation of the membrane attack complex. Tumor-bound antibodies can also recruit the natural defenses of the host by interacting with effector cells which themselves lyse the target. However, despite their multiple cytotoxic capacity, the actual experimental use of mAbs alone as cytotoxic agents has been unsatisfactory. The trials have resulted in some remissions, but in general most patients have had only minor responses which are often transient in nature (Foon et al., Blood 64: 1085-1093 (1984); Sears et al., Cancer Res, 45: 5910-5913 (1985)).
Investigators have attempted to improve the therapeutic effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies by supplementing the cytotoxicity of the antibody molecule itself with cytotoxic radionuclides, toxins, and drugs attached thereto (DeNardo, S. et al., Nucl. Med. Biol. 13: 303-310 (1986); Hurwitz, E. et al., Cancer Research 35: 1175-1181 (1975); Ghose, T. et al., J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 58: 845-852 (1977)).
Attempts to improve the tumoricidal capacity of mAbs have also included attaching biological response modifiers to provide antibody conjugates that would also provoke a local natural immune response at the antibody binding site.
One example of this use of biological response modifiers are conjugates of antibody and cobra venom factor (CVF). CVF is a glycoprotein, having the properties of the C3b, C3/C5 convertase of the alternative pathway of complement. However, CVF, unlike its native analog, is not inactivated by complement control proteins. The presence of CVF on cell-bound antibody initiates assembly of the membrane attack complex and thereby cell death. (Vogel, C. and Muller-Eberhard, H., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 21(12): 7707-7711; Vogel, C. et al., "Hematology and Blood Transfusion", in Modern Trends in Human Leukemia VI, 29: 514-517 (1985) Berlin Neth, et al.).
Another example is the use of immunoconjugates comprising monoclonal antibody and interferon, in which interferon enhances target cell lysis by activation of pre-existing cellular immune mechanisms, including natural killer (NK) cells. (Flannery, G. et al., Eur. J. Cancer Clin. Oncol., 20(6): 791-798 (1984).)
Other investigators have studied the effects of immunoconjugates comprising a chemotactic agent, formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) which acts to increase monocyte/macrophage concentrations at the site of tumor-bound antibody. (Obrist, R., Sandberg, A., Cellular Immunology 81: 169-174 (1983); Obrist, R., et al., Bent 53: 251 (1986)). None of these efforts, however, have substantially improved the clinical effectiveness of antibody tumor therapy.
Studies show that this lack of clinical effectiveness is due in large part to the delivery of insufficient quantities of mAbs to the tumor site. Examination of tumor tissue by histochemical methods before and after therapy indicated that even at high dose levels, there is only a partial saturation of tumor by antibody. (Lowder, et al., Blood 69: 199-210 (1987)). Quantitative dosimetry studies using radiolabeled antibody preparations have revealed that only a very low percent of total dose actually binds to the tumor (0.05-0.2%) despite the high specificity of the antibodies used or the achievement of high tumor:organ ratios. Studies with tumor-specific monoclonal antibodies indicate that even with good tumor to blood distribution ratios, the absolute amount of radiolabeled mAbs detected per gram of tumors is about 0.015% of the total injected dose. (Epenetos et al., Cancer Research 46: 3183-3191 (1986)).
Within the body, the primary mode of communication and delivery of substances is via the circulatory system. In general, the circulatory system comprises the blood vascular system and the lymphatic system. The blood vascular system, which distributes nutritive materials, oxygen, hormones and other substances to all parts of the body while removing the products of cellular metabolism, includes the heart and a series of tubular vessels: the arteries, veins, and capillaries. The arteries, which by branching constantly increase in number and decrease in caliber, conduct blood from the heart to the capillary bed. The capillaries, where the interchange of elements between the blood and the other tissues takes place, form a mesh-work of anastomosing tubules. Veins, in turn, return blood from the capillaries to the heart.
The capillaries are typically comprised of simple endothelial cells that connect the arterial and venous sides of the circulatory system. Meshes of the capillary network are present throughout the body, varying in size and in shape in different tissues and organs. The intensity of metabolism in a region generally determines the closeness of the mesh. Therefore, there is a close network in the lungs, liver, kidneys, mucous membranes, glands, and skeletal muscle, as well as in the grey matter on the brain. The network has a large mesh and is sparse in tissues such as tendons, nerves, smooth muscle, and serious membranes.
The ability to transfer substances through the wall of capillaries is referred to as permeability. Permeability varies regionally and, under changed conditions, locally.
In general, it is agreed that tumors must induce a new blood supply if they are to grow beyond a diameter of a few millimeters, and a great deal of attention has been focused on the mechanisms by which tumors induce angiogenesis. (For example, see Folkman, J., Adv. Cancer Res. 43: 175-203 (1985).) Significant attention has also been devoted to the anatomy and physiology of the new blood vessels that come to supply tumors. (Id.)
It is generally agreed that tumor vessels are anatomically heterogeneous structures. Often, they consist of relatively undifferentiated channels, lined by a simple endothelium and with fewer pericytes and smooth muscle cells than would be expected of comparably sized vessels in normal tissues. The functional properties of tumor vessels have been more controversial; tumor vessels have been reported to be either more or less responsive to vasoactive mediators than normal vessels. (See, e.g., Hori, K., et al., J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 74: 453-459 (1985).) One property of tumor vessels on which most investigators agree, however, is that, relative to normal vessels, tumor vessels are hyperpermeable to circulating macromolecules. This observation demands explanation because of its obvious relevance to an understanding of the localization of monoclonal antibodies and tumoricidal drugs in solid tumors. (See, e.g., Dvorak, et al., Am. J. Pathol. 133: 95-109 (1988).) Whereas small molecules pass freely through normal capillaries and other vessels with intact interendothelial cell junctions, the permeability of the normal vasculature to macromolecules is tightly regulated. Normally, macromolecules are largely retained within the circulation and the small amounts that do escape are thought to do so by means of vesicular transport or by the formation of transient transcytoplasmic channels across endothelial cells. (See, e.g., Milici, H. A., et al., J. Cell Biol. 105: 2603-2612 (1987).) In inflammation, however, the escape of macromolecules is greatly increased; agonists such as histamine provoke a contraction of post-capillary endothelial cells, resulting in the formation of interendothelial cell gaps through which macromolecules and even particulates may escape. Regardless of whether or not tumor vasculature is "leaky", however, we must reiterate that many studies indicate that insufficient quantities of monoclonal antibodies are being delivered to the tumor site.
We believe that the reasons for the inadequate perfusion of tumors by blood are largely anatomical. Tumor cells grow radially from a central core of cells, rapidly outgrowing their blood supply, and leaving a necrotic, hypoxic core. In this instance, the distance from tumor cells to the nearest capillary is about 100 to 150 .mu.m, a distance great enough to produce significant hypoxia and a perfusion deficit. These hypoxic cells show resistance to radiation and in addition, are inaccessible to injected drugs or antibodies. (Kaelin, W. et al., Cancer Research 44: 896-899 (1984); Thomlinson, P. and Gray, L., Br. J. Cancer 9: 539-549 (1955)).
Limitations on mAb tumor therapy therefore appear to arise primarily from transport-related factors such as the ability of the mAbs to penetrate into the tumor and to localize and persist at the tumor site. The inefficient delivery and binding of mAbs to tumor cells and the limitations it places on their clinical effectiveness is a major obstacle to their use for diagnosis and therapy. The use of potentiating agents, such as radioactive species, chemotherapeutic agents and toxic drugs attached to the mAbs does not overcome this obstacle. Indeed, unless the mAbs are well concentrated at the tumor site, these attached potentiating agents carry the risk of increased damage to normal tissues.
Studies show that uptake of mAbs by tumor tissue correlates well with vascular permeability and blood flow (Sands et al., Cancer Res. 48: 188-193, (1988)). A similar study indicates that administration of a vasoactive agent may under some circumstances increase the perfusion of tumor relative to other tissues and increase tumor uptake and concentration of radiopharmaceuticals. (Bomber, P. et al., J. Nucl. Med. 27: 243-245 (1986)).
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a specifically targeted agent which can be used to increase vascular permeability and expand tumor blood volume prior to the administration of tumoricidal immunotherapy or chemotherapy so as to make that therapy more effective.
The same considerations of inefficient delivery also apply to the use of specifically targeted agents used in vivo for diagnostic imaging purposes. An increased amount of an immunodiagnostic agent delivered to the tumor site will improve the accuracy of the diagnostic procedure and allow a more efficient use of diagnostic agents, and a greater degree of safety to the patient in cases where the immunodiagnostic agent, such as radioisotope-labeled antibodies, carries some risk. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide agents which will similarly enhance the delivery of immunodiagnostic agents to a tumor by the specific targeting of vasoactive agents to the site prior to the immunodiagnostic procedure.